Tuesday Morning, Harmony Church
There was a part of Nathan that felt free and another part that felt like he was heading to meet his executioner. He was prepared to do whatever was necessary to just move on, to be left alone and to finish school, but he had no idea what Pastor Stephens had in mind, or what his parents would do. But he knew that nothing would stop him from seeing Shelby, or from continuing to make love to her. His love for Shelby filled the emptiness that he felt when he realized that his faith had been misplaced.
They trudged into the church office, and Mrs. Proctor wordlessly motioned for them to go to Pastor Stephens' office. His parents had barely said a word all morning, and he detected tension, and a little fear, in the way that they were acting. They walked down the hall past the small office that Pastor Cullum used, to the big office that the church's leader used. James knocked on the door, and the familiar voice rumbled, "Come in."
The distinguished looking minister looked extra imposing behind his huge, carved wooden desk, and he had set the office up so that he was towering over any visitor. Nathan looked around the impressive office, with its pictures of the congregation going back decades, photos of Pastor Stephens with politicians, including five governors, President Reagan and both Bushes, certificates of appreciation and proclamations on the wall, and more books and bibles than many small libraries.
They sat in the small, uncomfortable visitor chairs and waited for Pastor Stephens to give them his attention. In the past, he had always been pleasant and solicitous of Nathan's parents, who were long-time congregants and leaders of their generation, and of Nathan, who had long appeared to be one of the true believers and young leaders. Today, however, Pastor Stephens was treating them like they all had been called to the principal's office for misbehavior.
Finally, the grey haired minister looked up and said, in a low voice, "Nathan, I'm very, very disappointed in you."
Nathan felt the blood rush to his face and the competing emotions of anger and embarrassment fight for supremacy in his mind. He decided to stay quiet and wait.
"We have always counted on you to do the Godly thing, but now, you seem to be under some evil influences."
At that veiled reference to Shelby, Nathan's eyes narrowed to slits, as Pastor Stephens continued, "I have heard a number of reports about your misbehavior and violation of the rules of the church and of the Lord, and I want you to apologize to me, to Pastor Cullum, to your parents and to the congregation."
Hearing that, anger began to win the fight for Nathan's emotion, and he clenched his fists, but held his tongue.
The minister turned his gaze to James, "And I'm disappointed in you, James, and Marcia, because you failed to stop this behavior before it crossed the line." James and Marcia lowered their heads.
"It is clear to me that you need my help again, so here is what is going to happen. We will be expelling Shelby from school and her parents from the churchโwe took a chance on them, and clearly they are not Godly people."
Nathan felt that his head was about to explode, but Pastor Stephens kept talking, so he clenched his fists tighter. "You, Nathan, will not see her anymore. You will apologize, in writing to Pastor Cullum and to me, on behalf of the congregation. You will do 30 hours of volunteer work for the church before graduation, at my direction. James and Marcia, you will meet with Pastor Cullum to discuss your parenting skills, so that we do not have this problem with young Thomas, and I will expect a generous donation from your family this year because of the trouble that you have caused. Is that understood?"
Nathan watched his parents meekly nod and accept the conditions, but he could not. He stood up, so that Pastor Stephens no longer loomed over him and yelled, "I do not accept. It is unfair for you to discipline Shelby more than me. And anyway, I know that you are a hypocrite, my parents are hypocrites and liars, and so is Pastor Cullum. Everything you have told me since I was a baby is, is, is, bullshit."
The outburst, and especially the profanity, shocked Nathan's parents and the minister, who responded, angrily, "Young man, that language is uncalled for. And what do you mean by your insults to me and your parents?"
James interrupted, in a low defeated voice, "Thomas, he knows."
"Knows what?" Pastor Stephens asked warily.
Nathan jumped in, "I know that my mother was pregnant with me when they were married and that you helped them cover it up. I also am pretty sure that Pastor Cullum is not pure, and is also a nasty, vicious man. I will not apologize. Instead, I will tell everyone about this, and the marriage certificate is proof of all of your lies. And I bet that if I looked harder, I could find some more similar situations."
Pastor Stephens turned to James and growled, "Look what you have done."
James looked like he had been slapped. "We did this together, and I never thought that it would come to this."
Pastor Stephens looked at his congregants and saw their pain. And he realized that if Nathan was serious about exposing his willingness to marry couples who had engaged in sinful behavior, it would not only erode his authority, it might lead to prying that would expose his other secrets. He decided to see what he could do to defuse the situation.
"Son, sit down," he said to Nathan in a consoling voice. "What can we do to prevent you from embarrassing yourself, your family and the church?"
Nathan thought. He didn't care about embarrassing "the church" which he realized really meant its leader, but his parents didn't deserve being the butt of gossip. They had fallen prey to the same emotions that he and Shelby had, and he could not condemn them for that. Or even for trying to cover it up to protect their reputations and him. But he could not forgive their hypocrisy. He looked at Pastor Stephens and said, "Here is what I would like. First, nothing happens to Shelby or her parents. We finish school and graduate like nothing happened. No written apologies to anyone." He looked at his parents, "Shelby and I continue to see each other. We promise to be discreet, and to be safe, so that history doesn't repeat itself. Also, I think that I will not go to Tabernacle Bible College next year. I'm going to go to community college for a year, and work."
"Is that it?" The minister responded.
Nathan felt like he might still have one more card to play. "No. I want you to fire Pastor Cullum."
Pastor Stephens looked at James and Marcia, who nodded. He turned to Nathan and said, "We will agree to all of those conditions, except that I will not fire Pastor Cullumโ" he raised his hand to stop Nathan from interrupting, then continued, "I will speak with him, and if he has not been truthful, I will consider letting him move on to another post. And you, young man, you have to promise that nothing that was said in this room is repeated to anyone inside or outside of the congregation. And that you will not encourage any of your friends to behave in the way that you and Shelby have."
Nathan realized that it was not all he would want, but it was a good deal for him and Shelby. He was surprised at how easily Pastor Stephens gave up, but he decided not to worry about that. He stood and offered his hand to the tall, thin minister. "We have a deal, Pastor Stephens."
They shook, and Nathan noticed the older man give his parents a withering look before saying, "You may go. Nathan, I expect you to go directly to school. You may get a late pass from EdithโI mean Mrs. Proctor."
Nathan nodded, and he and his parents left the office and started walking down the hall. After a few steps, James put his hand on Nathan's shoulder and said, "Stop." Nathan turned to face his father. "Were you really willing to destroy our reputation for that girl?"
"Shelby," Nathan responded. "Her name is Shelby. And yes. You were prepared to stop me from seeing the woman that I love to protect your reputation. But it all works out, right? Everything gets swept under the rug, and nobody gets hurt."
"You think you are so clever, don't you?" James replied.
Marcia interrupted. "James, leave the boy alone. Somehow, he is making this all work."
"Only because Pastor Stephens agreed to protect us, again," James replied.
"Dad, don't you get it? He only wants to protect himself. He doesn't care about you or me or mom."
"That's ridiculous. Let's say you released our marriage certificate, everybody would know we were sinners, but Pastor Stephens would just say he was trying to help out two kids in trouble. He would look good, not bad."
Nathan thought about that, and couldn't think of a good answer. "Dad, it doesn't matter, does it? He agreed, we agreed, and it is done."